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THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
on Wednesday acknowledged the support of an association of quarry
operators in the Western Visayas to the government’s effort to
create a strong mining industry while protecting the environment.
Environment and Natural Resources
Secretary Lito Atienza said the gesture of the Iloilo Quarry
Permittees Association Inc. (IQPAI) strengthens the government’s
greening program in a bid to show that mining operations and caring
for the environment go hand in hand in Iloilo.
“Mining activities going hand
in hand with caring for the environment is now the direction that
the DENR has taken,” the DENR chief said.
The DENR strictly requires every
mining company to implement extensive environmental programs even
during the pre-feasibility phase of operations in order to ensure
the protection of the environment and biodiversity.
The IQPAI is composed of 48
members who are involved in sand-and-gravel and other small-scale
mining in Iloilo province. It recently signed a memorandum of
agreement with the DENR to help strengthen the government’s
greening efforts throughout the country.
Under the agreement, IQPAI has
committed to establish a five-hectare forest plantation within the
854-hectare Bulabog-Putian National Park in Dingle, Iloilo to help
in the restoration and rehabilitation of the protected area.
The association would expand the
forest plantation by five hectares per year in the next five years
until it reaches the total of 25 hectares of forest area developed
within the national park, IQPAI President Joebert A. Anares said.
IQPAI has also agreed to provide
the funds needed for labor, materials, maintenance and other
expenses for the project. The funds will be drawn from the mine
rehabilitation cash fund of the association.
--Ira Karen Apanay
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